ensure a return to “laws being made in our country by democratically elected politicians interpreted and enforced by British courts”.

The agreement, she added, would not remove Gibraltar from the “UK family” – a reference to a last-minute wrangle with Spain over the territory.

What has the EU decided?

The EU leaders have approved the two key Brexit documents:

The EU withdrawal agreement: a 585-page, legally binding document setting out the terms of the UK’s exit from the EU. It covers the UK’s £39bn “divorce bill”, citizens’ rights and the Northern Ireland “backstop” – a way to keep the Irish border open, if trade talks stall

The political declaration, which sets out what the UK and EU’s relationship may be like after Brexit – outlining how things like UK-EU trade and security will work

There was no formal vote on Sunday, with the EU proceeding by consensus.

Mr Juncker said it was a “sad day” and no-one should be “raising champagne glasses” at the prospect of the UK leaving.

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While it was not his place to tell MPs how to vote, he said they should bear in mind that “this is the best deal possible…this is the only deal possible”.

But Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite suggested there were a number of possible outcomes if the UK Parliament rejected the deal, including an extension of the negotiations, or another referendum.

What happens next?

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Mrs May will now need to persuade MPs in the UK Parliament to back it.

She is expected to spend the next fortnight travelling the country trying to sell the deal before a parliamentary vote in the second week of December.

If MPs reject the deal, a number of things could happen – including leaving with no deal, an attempt to renegotiate or a general election.

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the parliamentary arithmetic was “looking challenging” and warned “nothing could be ruled out” if Mrs May lost the vote, including the government collapsing.

He told the BBC’s Andrew Marr that the UK was getting “between 70% and 80%” of what it wanted, while the agreement “mitigated” most of the negative economic impacts.

Asked if the UK would be better off than if it stayed in, he said the country would not be “significantly worse or better off but it does mean we get our independence back”.

The agreement will also have to go back to the European Council, where a majority of countries (20 out of 27 states) will need to vote for it.

It will also need to be ratified by the European Parliament, in a vote expected to take place in early 2019.

What are Mrs May’s critics saying?

Former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith said he would find it “very, very difficult” to support the agreement as it stood.

“I don’t believe that, so far, this deal delivers on what the British people really voted for,” he told Sky’s Sophy Ridge show. “I think it has ceded too much control.”

SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon – who wanted to stay in the EU – said it was a “bad deal” and Parliament should consider “better alternatives”, such as remaining in the single market and customs union permanently.

I don’t say this lightly, but almost nothing in this desperate letter is true. This is a bad deal, driven by the PM’s self defeating red lines and continual pandering to the right of her own party. Parliament should reject it and back a better alternative – SM/CU or #PeoplesVotehttps://t.co/TSsXQtVUAZ

And Democratic Unionist leader Arlene Foster – who wants to leave the EU – said her party’s parliamentary pact with the Conservatives would be reviewed if MPs approved the deal.

She told the BBC’s Andrew Marr show the agreement as it stood would leave Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK “still within European structures with no say in its rules”.

Former PM Tony Blair, who backs another referendum, said the deal was “a dodo” while shadow justice secretary Richard Burgon said it was an “ill-fated, half baked deal that was the worst of all worlds”.